Why Microsoft's Stock Is Getting Punished After Earnings
Investors focused on the balance between AI spending and AI revenue wanted more juice from Microsoft's cloud business in the latest quarter. Microsoft CFO Amy Hood suggested the company could be growing faster in the cloud if it wanted to, but that would come at the expense of resources for internal developers.It's Microsoft's turn to be in the investor doghouse over artificial-intelligence spending.Three months ago, Meta Platforms seemed to be Wall Street's punching bag in response to AI expenses that were potentially out of whack with AI revenue. But Meta's 7.3% stock climb in Wednesday's extended session, following the company's own earnings report, suggests investors are now more at peace with the balance between AI investments and monetization over there.Not so with Microsoft , whose shares were off 6.7% in Wednesday's extended trading, a move that would constitute their largest post-earnings drop in more than three years if it were to hold through the close of Thursday's regular